A week after locking in the No. 1 seed in the Patriot League, Loyola Women’s Lacrosse cruised their way to a 16-5 home victory against Bucknell in their final game of the regular season.
Bucknell was faced with the task of having to beat Loyola to get into the Patriot League tournament for the first time since 2017. According to Loyola Greyhounds, Loyola Women’s Lacrosse has never lost a Patriot League regular season game since 2014. This game posed a challenge for Bucknell.
It took only 19 seconds for the team’s leading goal scorer, Chase Boyle ‘25, to put one on the board. Another goal was scored 28 seconds after from Georgia Latch ‘25.
Every player made sure to show out in the regular season finale. Half of Loyola’s goals occurred in the first quarter.
Boyle finished with six goals against Bucknell, breaking the Loyola single season record for goals with 74 on the year, cementing herself in the program’s history books. According to Loyola Greyhounds, this accolade broke the previous record of 71 held by Grace Gavin ‘11 and Kara Burke ‘15. Boyle finished second in the nation in goals per game with 4.35.
Her teammates made sure to congratulate her when the record was announced over the loudspeaker after the first quarter ended, all understanding how great of an accomplishment she had just achieved.
Sydni Black ‘24, the team’s second leading goal scorer of the year, finished with four goals in the game and 64 goals on the season. She also tallied two of the team’s 10 assists. Loyola’s assist leader, Latch, finished the game with two goals and four assists. She also dished out a team-leading 37 assists on the year.
Loyola’s defense held it down, only allowing five goals all game, the first of which came very late in the third quarter. Starting goalkeeper Lauren Spence ‘25 did not allow a single goal, having six saves on the day.
Bucknell’s five goals were not nearly enough to give Loyola a run for their money. The box score shows they were dominated on draws, only controlling five to Loyola’s 20. Their offense was completely shut down, scoring the least number of goals in a game all year according to the Patriot League, whilst their defense was certainly not present. The loss at Ridley ends Bucknell’s season short of the Patriot League tournament again for the seventh consecutive year.
Loyola finished the 2024 season with a 15-2 record, posting a 0.882 win percentage, the third highest in program history. The only two years with a higher win percentage were in 2022 and 2003, which was Diane Geppi-Aikens’ final year as head coach.
This season is Loyola Women’s Lacrosse’s ninth straight year with the No. 1 seed in the Patriot League, currently ranking ninth in the country.
The team is now focused ahead on playing in the Patriot League Semifinals on Thursday, May 2 at 3 p.m. against No. 6 Lehigh. Both the Patriot League tournament semifinals and championship game will be hosted here in Baltimore at the Ridley Athletic Complex.
Head Coach Jen Adams is looking to lead her team to its eighth Patriot League tournament title in program history, and there is tons of hope to do so.
